Ultra-low cost carriers like Spirit are pushing the majors into the no-frills arena. United has announced it will follow Delta next year, and offer “basic economy” style fares with no baggage, upgrade or airport privileges, and American has indicated that it’s exploring the idea, too.
Fares like that—Spirit calls it a “bare fare”—have been the staple of flying on the ULC carriers such as Spirit and Frontier, but the majors have resisted up to now because they have wanted to maintain a distinction, and also collect more revenue.
But direct competition on an increasing number of routes is pushing them to this change, hoping it will soak up some of Spirit’s market while still allowing them to sell higher-priced seats to those who want the “frills.” It’s likely that UAL and American will apply the new fares only on those hot-competition routes; that’s what Delta does.
As reported here last week, Spirit is planning more direct competition, moving in on Delta-heavy routes from Atlanta to Minneapolis and New Orleans. Look for more to come.
Change at the low end of American’s menu of fare options isn’t the only one they plan for economy flying. An upscaled version of premium economy will be rolled out, starting next year, for long-haul flights.http://www.aa.com/i18n/urls/pr…title=premiumeconomy
They do have a great game going: Take it away from you, and then ransom it back.
And there’s more…in the next couple of days, Gumbo will have a news update about what may be ahead for the premium end of the plane, too!